


The Instruction of a Prince

by orphan_account



Category: Dragon Age
Genre: BDSM, D/s, F/M, Femdom, M/M, Multi, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-21
Updated: 2011-07-21
Packaged: 2017-10-21 15:29:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/226728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sebastian Vael, displaced Prince of Starkhaven, has hired Ser Cauthrien to instruct him in the finer points of military theory and leadership. But Ser Cauthrien and her lover, Nathaniel Howe, have a unique method of teaching. Ser Cauthrien/Sebastian Vael/Nathaniel Howe (Ser Cauthrien/Nathaniel Howe established), pwp, femdom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Instruction of a Prince

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FirstBlush](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=FirstBlush), [Iapetus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iapetus/gifts).



It would have been a beautiful sight, if Cauthrien's anger hadn't been flaring high and hot.

Her gaze traveled between Nathaniel, shirtless, his skin only slightly dampened with sweat, his muscles flexing across his back and shoulders as he raised the lash and let it fall again, and the man kneeling before him, arms tied out to his sides, fine shirt ripped straight down the back. That man was also finely muscled, skin a few shades darker, richer, than Nathaniel's, and it was currently gaining a latticework of raised red welts.

That, too, would have been beautiful, would have stirred her more, if the prince they belonged to would be more vocal about admitting his failings.

Truly, planning to take Starkhaven with no knowledge of military command? With no knowledge of true leadership? It was laughable, at best, and yet he seemed to believe he was entitled to it from birth. No, these Marchers did not understand what Ferelden already knew - strong leaders were made, not born. Blood only provided _half_ the necessary traits.

No, if she was going to teach him how to take his city back, he would need to listen. Learn. Admit his failings.

" _Prince_ ," she said, crossing her arms, the squeal and clatter of metal on metal loud. There was nothing but the sound of the lash, of her voice, of Sebastian's labored breathing and intermittent yelps of pain. Nathaniel was not working him hard, not to the point of breaking his skin, but Cauthrien considered ordering it.

She stepped down from the platform she'd been standing on, cape sweeping the stone behind her, and moved around to the Marcher's front. She knelt before him, took his chin between gauntleted fingers.

"Prince," she said, voice lower, "can you tell me again what you did wrong? Where you ruined today's lesson? Can you?"

She held up her other hand and Nathaniel stopped, the whip held high. He caught the lash in his hand, curled strong fingers around it, and she tried to keep that out of her mind for the moment. There were more important things to be done.

Sebastian looked up at her, eyes blazing blue, glaring. "I did nothing wrong," he growled.

Cauthrien sighed, a sound close to a growl, and then pulled away. Sebastian's lips curled in a faint, triumphant smirk.

And then she backhanded him hard enough that he fell against his bonds, another strangled cry coming from his throat.

She gripped his chin again, forced him to look up at her. She inspected the damage she had done - likely a bruise across his cheek, and his lip was split, blood oozing out bright against his skin. She lifted her thumb, brushed it against his mouth, wiping the blood away. Sebastian flinched.

She looked up to Nathaniel.

"Would you like to tell him, Nathaniel?" Her fingers stroked along Sebastian's cheek absently, pressing against the swollen flesh. The prince hissed.

Nathaniel came to crouch behind Sebastian, mirroring her posture, running the handle of the lash along Sebastian's spine. He arched and whimpered.

"He would have cut off all supplies to his forward troops on the assumption that they would take from the land," he said, calmly, meeting her eyes and quirking a brow. Cauthrien bit back the urge to smile at him. Nathaniel- he was good. Loyal, intelligent, handsome. Attentive.

Sebastian, however-

Sebastian remained petulant, emotional, impulsive. Prone to bouts of anger that got him nowhere. He had asked her, paid her for her instruction, and she was more than willing to assist, but only if he would learn.

She drew her face close to his and he flinched away. "And why was that a failure, my prince?"

He didn't respond for a long moment, shuddering under Nathaniel's touches, his closeness. She knew he had a history of being a wild child, before he had been committed to the Chantry, but he acted now as if he had never been touched.

And he had never been quite this close to her or Nathaniel before.

" _Prince Vael_ ," Cauthrien growled again, fingers digging into his cheek. He gasped, tugged at his bonds, but it got him nowhere.

"I don't-"

She should have struck him again. Instead, she shifted to her knees so that she could press her hand up below his jaw, bend his head back, speak against his exposed throat. "You don't know, Prince Vael? Well, that's a problem." Her eyes flicked to Nathaniel.

When Sebastian didn't immediately reply, Nathaniel tangled a hand in the man's (up until recently, perfectly combed back) hair and tugged his head further back still and hard to side.

"Ser Cauthrien asked you a question, Vael," he murmured in the man's ear, and Cauthrien watched another trembling shiver run through him. Caught by a thought, she let her fingers trail down his throat, then grabbed the front of his lovely shirt, tearing it from the front of his body as she had from the back.

He was flushed down to his collarbone, little patches of reddened skin, and as she ran her finger along one clavicle, she saw the muscles of his neck jump, his body curve both towards and away from her, as if he couldn't decide what he wanted.

Hm.

Perhaps, even with her anger, this was still a beautiful sight.

"You know, perhaps it's alright, Nathaniel," she said, thoughtfully, finger trailing lower, over his chest, along his ribs. "Perhaps," she continued, leaning in to murmur in Sebastian's other ear, "there are other ways to get him to understand the answer. And if he does not know the answer, other ways to make him beg for the knowledge."

Nathaniel tilted his head, hummed thoughtfully, his lips touching Sebastian's earlobe, his hair trailing over his now-exposed shoulder. "Oh, Ser Cauthrien?"

She felt Sebastian go rigid between them, and with her other hand, she took Nathaniel's, loosened his fingers around the lash. It fell to the ground as she dragged Nathaniel's hand along Sebastian's skin, along his ribs, down over his hip. She settled Nathaniel's palm against Sebastian's groin, below that ridiculous belt of his, and Nathaniel grinned at her, chuckling.

" _Oh_ ," he said, then turned to look at Sebastian. "Our prince is enjoying this, then?"

"It would appear so," she replied, smirking, running her fingers up along Nathaniel's bracers, and then back to Sebastian's skin.

"I'm not _enjoying_ this-" Sebastian bit out, then groaned as Nathaniel's fingers tightened, as he rubbed his palm along the bulge in the prince's trousers.

"No?" Cauthrien asked, fingers once again curling around his chin and forcing him to look at her once more. "Really?" She leaned in, just enough to let her lips brush over his. He shivered, gasped, tried for just a moment to pull away before he leaned into it. She grinned and ran her tongue over his lip, lathing the cut she'd given him. Tasting blood. He cried out again, shuddering and bucking against Nathaniel's hand.

"R-really-" he gasped as she finally pulled away. But his pupils were blown wide and his eyes were fixated on her mouth as she rose, stood up, loomed above him.

"Would Nathaniel be more to your liking, then?" She began to circle around him again, and watched as he desperately tried to keep an eye on her. "I hope he is. Nathaniel- if you could get him more cooperative?"

"Gladly, Ser Cauthrien," he murmured, lips finding Sebastian's ear again. He took the lobe between his teeth, nipping hard. She watched as Sebastian's spine arched, as he spread his legs just a little to keep his balance there on his knees. And, she suspected, to give Nathaniel more access.

Sebastian growled- or was that a groan? Cauthrien smirked, leaning against one of the low, crumbling walls of the ruins where they had set up camp, at an angle where she could see both of them, see how Sebastian shut his eyes tight and bit his lower lip. He was worrying the cut there, and she could see his lips reddening with want, with blood. He was breathing heavily.

And Nathaniel-

Nathaniel was doing what he did best. His hand in Sebastian's hair released, and slid down his side. Both hands came together to work at Sebastian's belt with those clever fingers of his. Sebastian didn't pull his head away with the restraint released, instead allowing it briefly to come to rest on one of Nathaniel's bare shoulders.

Oh, the prince wanted this. He was just being contrary, as always.

The belt fell away with a clatter, and Sebastian seemed to come back to life at the noise, jerking away from Nathaniel. But the Warden just gripped his hips, pulling Sebastian back hard against him.

"My vows," Sebastian hissed, trying to pull away but only succeeding in grinding against Nathaniel. Cauthrien watched Nathaniel's eyes go dark and half-lidded, watched as he nipped Sebastian's ear again, then trailed harsh, biting kisses down his neck. She knew that look, loved that look, and she shifted in her armor, smirking.

"You," Nathaniel murmured, just loud enough for his audience to hear, "gave up your vows when you left the Chantry, Prince Vael. Your vows are gone."

Those wicked fingers of his were working at the laces of Sebastian's trousers, and Cauthrien watched them, the quick pulling of strings, the pushing down of fabric. She watched every inch of exposed skin, felt her own body quicken in response. But she, unlike their princeling, had patience. Self-control.

He could do to learn some.

Nathaniel glanced up her for a moment as his fingers closed around Sebastian's length for the first time, and Cauthrien nodded.

Sebastian cried out. He was vocal - of course he was vocal. He was always running his mouth off, holding forth on this or that. Now, though, there were no words to his cries, merely the need of somebody who hadn't been touched in quite a long time.

She knew those cries. She'd made them herself when she first met Nathaniel. And Nathaniel, she knew from experience, liked the sound. The want. He was burying a smile against Sebastian's throat, then biting away the evidence as he began to stroke, one languid pump after another, with no heed paid to how Sebastian's hips twitched.

And Sebastian's hips _did_ twitch. The prince bucked and jerked, breath coming in panting gasps. Nathaniel had him cradled against him now, pressed back firmly to his chest, his own hips. She knew the sweat on his skin would be burning the welts on Sebastian's back with every movement. She wished she could feel it. Cause it herself.

But she watched, drumming her fingers on her armor, legs crossed idly.

Nathaniel took his time, his thumb dancing lightly over the head of Sebastian's cock until the younger man had to bite his lip hard enough to split it again to keep down his cry. He was hard and straining and oh, did he fight against it. His twitches were erratic, not the focused rhythm of a man who was giving in to desire.

When Sebastian opened his eyes again, he fixed them on Cauthrien. She felt the growing, coiling heat in her belly twist still tighter.

"Yes, prince?" Her voice was pitched lower than it had been before, a little throaty.

"This isn't- what I pay you for-" he got out as Nathaniel chuckled again, gave him a faster, more firm stroke that had the muscles of Sebastian's stomach quivering. " _Cauthrien_ -"

" _Ser_ Cauthrien, Prince Vael." She crossed the space between them again, knelt down just before Sebastian. He stared up at her, and she smiled and leaned in. A touch to Nathaniel's wrist made the man relax his grip, and Cauthrien trailed her armor-clad finger, chilled by the evening air, over his swollen length.

Sebastian twitched, head falling forward until his chin touched his chest, gasping for air.

"And yes, this _is_ what you pay me for. To teach you what you need to know. And, Prince Vael, self control is one of those things. So is understanding the nature of orders." She leaned in close to murmur in his ear, meeting Nathaniel's eyes as she did so. "Humility."

She brushed her cheek against Sebastian's, and he lifted his head, turned to her as if seeking her lips.

She kissed Nathaniel instead.

"Cauthrien-" he gasped, and Nathaniel laughed against her lips, even as he ran his tongue along hers, grabbed for her arm.

She denied him, as well, pulling away and standing once more.

" _Ser_ Cauthrien," she reminded Sebastian, pushing her hand into his hair, not minding if strands caught in the metal joints.

"Ser Cauthrien," Sebastian repeated, through gritted teeth, but when he looked up to her, when she pulled his head back, his eyes were pleading. "I-"

"Yes, Prince Vael?"

"I-"

Nathaniel's hand returned to its original position, and Sebastian groaned, falling back against him. Nathaniel's other hand perched on the prince's hip and began to guide him in rolling thrusts. "I believe the words you're looking for, dear prince, are _I'm sorry_ and _I want you, please_?"

Cauthrien's smirk turned to an expectant grin, and she waited, fingers tap-tapping against the armor over her hips.

Sebastian couldn't seem to find the words, or even understand Nathaniel's suggestion, lost for a moment in how Nathaniel's fingers brought his foreskin up over the ridge of flesh at his head then back down, how the other man's thumb toyed lightly at his slit.

"Repeat them, Prince Vael," Nathaniel murmured.

Sebastian made a sound that was half choked sob, half needy moan. "Maker's mercy, I-"

Cauthrien couldn't keep back her chuckle as she settled once more against the stone. "Are we about to blaspheme, our holiest of princes?"

He shot her a glare that quickly turned into a shuttered look of ecstasy. She watched as Nathaniel quickly withdrew his hands, sat back on his heels.

No, Sebastian didn't deserve that, yet.

He quivered at the abandonment, sank to sitting from where he knelt, swallowed thickly. She watched his throat bob.

"What were you about to say?"

He let out a little, confused, desperate noise, his hips rocking forward against the empty air. "I-" He licked his lips and she watched the movement of his tongue. She saw Nathaniel, from the corner of her eye, move to one of the poles Sebastian's wrists were tethered to, begin to undo the knots. His gaze, too, fixed on Sebastian's mouth.

"I-"

Sebastian Vael was a proud man, and she watched him struggle, watched him force himself down to the humility she demanded on him. He was a prince, and she would teach him to be as such, but until then, he was her student. And now he was _hers_ , pure and simple, for as long as it took for him to understand.

"I'm- sorry. I- I want you-"

She quirked a brow. Nathaniel bit back a laugh.

"... _please_ -"

There.

She could have ended the game there, and Nathaniel looked at her from where he held tight and taut the rope, questioning. She could have ended it, gone to Sebastian, let herself experiment with him and with Nathaniel. Learned his body. Trailed kisses over those welts-

But he still had not admitted what was wrong with his earlier decision, or asked for the correct answer, and so Cauthrien shook her head.

Nathaniel nodded.

They had never done this before, this playing with a new person, a third person, but they had traveled together for enough time to have a system of little signs, usually used on the battlefield but here employed to different purposes. He had been with her long before the first day she met Sebastian Vael, and since that day, they had talked of this often, this idea of him between them- though this was not the form she had ever expected it to take.

But she didn't much mind.

Sebastian bent forward at the waist in relief as Nathaniel gave his wrist a little slack, walking over to the other post. Those knots were quickly undone as well, and Sebastian looked between the both of them with a curious mixture of embarrassment and hope.

Nathaniel lifted the ends of the rope, and Cauthrien nodded. He grinned, and knelt to bind the other man's wrists together.

When Sebastian realized what was happening, he closed his eyes and took a few deep, shuddering breaths.

"You'll get your chance soon enough," she reassured him, watching how Nathaniel's muscles tensed and played over his shoulders as he worked the rope, watching how Sebastian tried not to struggle even though his entire body was tense, his shirt in tatters, his trousers rucked down around his thighs. He was still hard, seemingly painfully so, when Nathaniel stood and circled around to his front.

"Ser Cauthrien," he asked, though his eyes never left Sebastian, "how do you find his mouth?"

"Impudent and over-used," she responded, easily, though her expression lit at what he was insinuating. Sebastian, meanwhile, turned bright red, and pulled his abused lips tight together. "Too quick and clever at times, as well. Not exactly like yours, but... a few similarities."

He nodded. "And I do know your preferred uses for _my_ clever mouth," he responded with a low laugh, reaching out to tangle his hand in Sebastian's hair once more. He used his grip to pull Sebastian to his groin, though he did nothing more than hold him close. It was Sebastian who, after a shuddering whimper, nuzzled there and, closing his eyes, pressed a kiss to the laces.

Nathaniel's other hand went to free himself but Cauthrien shook her head. "No. Let him free you. If he wants this, he should show us."

It was a quiet cautioning, a reminder to let Sebastian know that, were this truly unwanted, he could fight and pull away. Sebastian stilled, seeming to understand.

And then he caught the simple knot holding Nathaniel's leggings closed in his teeth, working it open with surprising deftness. Cauthrien felt her mouth go dry and she licked at her lips. Nathaniel was not vocal, in contrast to her, to Sebastian, but something that Sebastian did with his lips, his chin pressed to the base of the bulge in Nathaniel's leggings, made him exhale sharply, lips parting and tongue peeking out.

Sebastian shrugged his shoulders and the scraps of his shirt fell down to pool around his bound wrists, exposing strong arms, a sculpted back, and she bit back a groan of her own as he managed to free Nathaniel. Watching his tongue slip out and almost curiously run the length of Nathaniel's erection was almost too much, and she sank back against the wall, eyes fixed on them.

Nathaniel's wrist flexed, his fingers tightening, and he guided Sebastian to take the very tip of him into his mouth. She watched her lover's eyes shutter, his hips quiver with the restraint it took not to thrust. This was one of the few things she would not do for him- go on her knees before him to lick and suck him. She would use her mouth if they were even, spread out on a bed or the ground, but not _this_. And to see him like this, tense and tall and needing, but mastering his impulses-

She reconsidered her previous hesitance.

There was something unbelievably sensual in how Sebastian faltered in taking Nathaniel's length into his mouth, in how he looked up to Nathaniel for approval, in how he smiled when Nathaniel shuddered and fisted his hair more tightly. He took to it quickly - a product of his pre-Chantry days, perhaps, or just a need to please in order to be pleased in return. He was still hard, cock smeared with a streak of precum, and he moved his hips in time with his mouth.

When Nathaniel groaned, loudly, Cauthrien felt a sharp spike of jealousy. She wanted to make him make those sounds.

"Nathaniel," she said, sharply, and he looked up to her, cheeks stained faintly pink, eyes narrowed and dark. He wanted this, shuddered as Sebastian continued to lave him with his tongue, pulled back to pay attention to just the tip.

Her jealousy died to a slow burn. To stop this-

But there was more they could do. And Sebastian was not begging yet.

"I want his mouth on me, too. Don't exhaust our charge."

Nathaniel nodded and took a deep, shuddering breath, before tugging Sebastian's head back. Sebastian blinked up at him, then looked with hazy eyes to Cauthrien.

"You heard her," Nathaniel said, voice low and rough. "Go to her."

"On your knees," Cauthrien added, because she wanted him to learn humility. She wanted to remain in charge, despite the need that was burning hotter and hotter inside of her, wiping out any lingering trace of possessiveness for Nathaniel's pleasure. "Come." She lifted a hand, crooked it.

Her eyes were fixed on him as he did just as she had asked with barely any hesitation. He met her gaze, and her breath caught at the intensity there, cutting through whatever lust fogged his mind. She leaned back against the half-wall, put one hand on top of it to brace herself.

Nathaniel watched, hand fisting around his cock and pumping slowly to keep himself floating. His other hand shoved down his leggings and smalls as he toed off his boots, leaving him naked but for his bracers. "And your armor, Ser Cauthrien?" he asked, and she saw his cock jump in his grip. He was fixated on her armor, had been since, as he told it, the first time he saw her wearing it. He liked her to leave it on, liked to help her remove it.

She smirked.

"He can kiss the metal, first. So I can see just what he's capable of."

She thought she saw a flare of _something_ in Sebastian's eyes, and she remembered with a rush of heat how he had responded at her gauntlets against his skin, how she had noticed him watching her move these last few days. He was close, now, close enough to lean in and nuzzle against the plate covering her left thigh.

His eyes flicked up to her.

"You're being remarkably quiet," she muttered, settling her hand against the top of his head, stroking back the hair that Nathaniel had mussed.

"I'm following _orders_ ," he responded with a small, testing smile, and she lifted a foot to press her booted heel against his thigh.

"Clever, but still impudent."

"Obedient, though," Nathaniel sighed, coming to join them, all bare skin and shifting muscle. Her eyes narrowed and she looked away only to watch Sebastian press kisses along the plate shielding her groin. When he saw her watching, he switched to licking a trail up to her breastplate, up and up, rising onto his knees as far as he could go.

And then he followed it back down.

She bit down a groan at the sight, and at all the sights afterwards - his tongue probing her mail beneath her plate, how he bent to kiss her boot, the attention he lavished on every prominence, every engraved detail, anything that seemed to catch her attention. Her hand tightened in his hair without her noticing, until he gasped in pain. Only then did she relent.

She caught his chin in her hand again, instead, and drew him to his feet. He staggered up, hobbled by his loose trousers, his still-prominent erection, and she got a reaction out of him as she dragged him up against her, catching his length in her hand. She didn't squeeze or pump or do anything but hold him, wary of pinching sensitive flesh, but the unyielding cold made him twitch and buck.

He stilled when she brought her lips near his.

"Nathaniel," she said, and when she spoke her lips brushed against Sebastian's. "Unbind him, if you would?"

Sebastian closed his eyes and she thought she heard, _felt_ , him whisper _thank you_.

"Sebastian," she queried, still not completing the kiss and he, obedient and understanding (at least in this) did not close that last breath of distance on his own. He merely opened his eyes again, looked into hers, swallowed. "Have you ever helped to take off heavy plate like this?"

"Once or twice," he rasped, and his voice had gone thick and needy again.

"Would you like to assist Nathaniel in getting me out of my armor, Sebastian?"

His name was heavy and delicious on her lips, and she found she liked saying it. Before, _prince Vael_ had been a tool to get him to attend to her, to flinch, to focus. But his _name_ -

"Yes," he breathed, swallowing thickly yet again. "Yes."

"Yes?" Her thumb trailed over his chin, cool metal sliding over both of them.

"Yes, _please_ ," he tried, and she smiled, pleased.

"Well, how can I deny you when you ask so nicely?" she murmured, feeling him tense and jerk against her as Nathaniel came up behind him, a knife retrieved from his discarded boots, and began to cut free the rope. It would mean a trip into town to replace it, but she appreciated the speed with which Sebastian was freed.

Because the moment the ropes fell away, she kissed him again.

Sebastian brought his hands around from behind him, but stopped short of touching her. She heard Nathaniel laugh as she nursed at the prince's lower lip and memorized the feel of him, the tang of blood still there, the taste of Nathaniel still in his mouth. He stepped close to Sebastian, pressed up against his back and reached around him to trail fingers along her armor.

"Like this, our prince," Nathaniel murmured close to Sebastian's ear, and she felt Sebastian rock his hips instinctively at the sound. Nathaniel's hands slid along the metal, finding buckles easily, working free leather straps. "The pauldron first. Pay attention."

Sebastian groaned and broke their kiss reluctantly, trying to watch Nathaniel's hands. He finally touched her, following Nathaniel's lead, finding other fastenings.

She felt her armor fall away, and she let them take every piece.

Pauldron, cowl, breastplate. Sebastian hesitated as his fingers curled under the bottom of her mail shirt, his eyes on her gauntlets, on her hand still lightly playing over his length.

"Yes, those have to come off," Nathaniel said, leaning in to nip at Sebastian's ear, then further still to dance his lips across hers. "A shame, isn't it? But if you ask her nicely, sometimes she'll put them back on." He looked to her, smiled, and she felt her heart jump and twist.

Sebastian watched as Nathaniel pulled away and reached for one of her hands, the one not clutching Sebastian's flesh, watched as he ran feathery fingers over the edge of her gauntlet, then worked it off reverently. Cauthrien watched Sebastian's fascination as well as the adoration in Nathaniel's eyes, the excitement, the need.

She felt like melting against the stone behind her, but that would leave the two men without any guidance - and all their hard work would be undone.

Sebastian took her other hand, uncurling each finger from his body, working her skin free, and when it was, he knelt, pressing a kiss to each finger. She inhaled sharply, staring down at him even as Nathaniel leaned forward, caught hold of her mail shirt, and tugged it up. She pulled her hand from Sebastian's grasp and lips only to let Nathaniel strip her down, unfasten her arming jacket, bare her arms.

Sebastian leaned forward to kiss at her sex through the leather pants she wore, and she groaned.

Later, she wouldn't be able to remember just how the two men stripped her down the rest of the way, but she did remember how she pushed herself up to sit, naked, on the low wall, how she hooked a leg over Sebastian's shoulder and, pressing her heel to his back, pulled him close. He kissed a quick path along her thigh, bracing himself with a hand on either side of her. He remained on his knees, stretching his body up along the stone as he kissed her clit, parted her folds with a sweep of his tongue.

Her lips parted in a wordless cry, and he probed at her entrance for just a moment before lathing the length of her sex.

Nathaniel simply watched the two of them for a long stretch, and she met his eyes a few times as Sebastian did his best to make her forget the world. Her hands tangled in his hair, held him to her, and he rewarded her with a quiet laugh, a light nip at her labia, a delving press of his tongue. He covered her in small kisses, worked his way up and down her belly, made her arch and grip and swear.

And when she was covered in a sheen of sweat, Nathaniel came to her and leaned in to kiss her, to swallow her cries with his mouth, to palm her breast and toy with a nipple. He nipped at her lips, kissed her deeply, made her hum against him and arch to his touch just as much as she did to Sebastian's. One of her hands left Sebastian's head to grip instead at Nathaniel, pull him close, and he lifted a leg to settle a knee on the wall, his skin brushing against hers.

Under the touch of both men, she was building fast towards her peak and she groaned, arched, writhed beneath them. He pulled away as she bucked and bit down a loud cry, just enough to ask, "And what was our prince's lesson, Ser Cauthrien?"

She'd nearly forgotten, and she pulled away enough to push her heel against Sebastian's shoulder, shove hard enough that he went sprawling onto his back, staring up at her, licking his lips.

"Self-control," she said, lowly. "The value of orders. Humility. And-" She pushed herself up to sitting, felt Nathaniel slip his arm around her, nuzzle at her cheek. "And why we do not assume that the vanguard can live off the land just to make our supply chains _easier_ to manage."

Sebastian's eyes went wide, and then his shoulders shook, quietly, in laughter. Whatever pain he was still in from the day's lashing, from her slap to his face (and he was beginning to bruise, color blossoming over one cheek), he ignored it as he pushed himself back to his feet, approached her and Nathaniel, shoving his pants and smalls the rest of the way off his hips..

"Do you remember the answer now, _Prince Vael_?" Cauthrien breathed, pressing the ball of her foot to his chest, square in the center, keeping him at distance. Nathaniel chuckled beside her, his hand trailing down her belly, slipping between her legs just enough to make her push at his chest with a hand, as well.

"No," Sebastian said, reaching up to slide his fingers along her foot, playing at the arch of it, the curve of her ankle, the muscles of her calf.

"And?" Her expression hardened, that earlier, distant flame of anger curling again. She slid her foot down, until her heel pressed to the base of his cock. "You know, Nathaniel is quite capable of satisfying me on his own. Would you like us to bind you again? Go back to the lashing?"

He shuddered, eyes half-closing at the thought.

"If you do not know the answer, what do you do, Prince Vael?" she asked, and with a firm downward push from her foot, he sank to his knees once more. She lifted her foot up, and he caught it in his hands again, kissed it like he had kissed her boot.

"I ask what the answer is, Ser Cauthrien," he murmured against her skin, and she thrilled at it. "Please, tell me."

"And after I tell you?"

He trailed kisses up her ankle, cheeks beginning to color for the first time since they had begun, since he had gone on his knees before Nathaniel. "... Please fuck me, Ser Cauthrien."

Nathaniel made a low sound of approval, and Cauthrien looked to him, slid her hand down his chest to find his length, stroke it back to fullness. "And Nathaniel? What of him, _dear_ prince?"

Sebastian flushed bright at that, then looked to Nathaniel as well. "Please fuck me, Nathaniel."

Cauthrien's lips quirked in pleased surprise, and Nathaniel's expression matched hers. "Well, dear prince," she murmured, looking back to him and reaching down to touch his chin, bidding him to rise again. "First, your answer:

"You do not cut the supply trains because it forces the men to live off the land. In your argument, this was no problem except for times of drought. But you have never lived on a farm. Imagine soldiers marching through, taking your crops, your livelihood, your _food_ , because their leader did not want the worry or extra work of coordinating a supply train. Cutting off those trains is what your _enemy_ attempts to do, to cripple you.

"Remember your people, those below you, and you will be a strong ruler yet."

Sebastian watched her with rapt attention, even as Nathaniel stood up and left the two of them alone, moving back over to where their things were settled. Sebastian leaned in, hands planting on either side of her.

"Do you understand?" she asked, keeping her gaze even as she hooked her legs around his waist, pulling him close.

"Yes," he said, voice strangled as his length brushed against her heat. She reached between them to trail her fingers, now warm and without metal, along him.

"Tell it to me, then." She curled her fingers to grip him, keep him just at her entrance. Her body quivered with the effort of keeping him away when all she wanted was him inside of her, but his trembled more strongly still. He sucked in a deep breath.

"Do not hurt the people, even if they are not yours, unless absolutely necessary," he murmured, leaning in so he could kiss at her collarbone. She let him. "Put in the extra effort when it does not expose you to your enemy to do so." He kissed lower, twitched in her hand.

"Respect my teachers," he added, and she laughed, releasing his length and pulling him close with her heels against his spine.

He groaned, burying himself into her in a single thrust, and she took hold of his shoulders to steady herself on her perch. He rocked against her, burying his face against his throat, murmuring something she couldn't make out. She laughed at the thought of it being the Chant, but then he lifted his lips to her ear and whispered, "I'm sorry, I want you, please-"

She kissed him then, and he fell into it needily.

Nathaniel returned, a vial in his hands, and as he watched Sebastian rock in to Cauthrien with slow, testing thrusts, he uncapped it. He dripped the oil over the fingers of his right hand, then came around behind Sebastian. He pressed a kiss to the prince's shoulder, enough to make sure the man knew he was there, then slid his slicked fingers down between his cheeks, toying lightly at his entrance. Sebastian stilled, pressed deep into Cauthrien, and bowed his head against her shoulder again.

Pressing another kiss, and then a light bite, to Sebastian's shoulder, Nathaniel slipped a single finger into him. Cauthrien could feel Sebastian shudder, could hear his gasp, and she reached for his chin, tilted it up, kissed him. He groaned and rocked against her once more as Nathaniel began to work him open, lips trailing along Sebastian's spine, shoulders, arms. His free hand went to steady the man's hips, then to brush against Cauthrien's.

Once Sebastian was oiled, Nathaniel pulled away only long enough to slick his own flesh, before coming behind Sebastian once more. Cauthrien uncurled her legs from around Sebastian's hips for as long as it took for Nathaniel to position himself and press in with a low groan, moving slowly, gently.

Sebastian let out a broken, needy sob against her lips, and she hummed reassurance to him, rolling her hips and clenching her muscles.

That seemed to do the trick, and Nathaniel slid home with another groan. One hand came to rest tightly on Sebastian's hip. The other reached for Cauthrien, and he slid his hand over her shoulder, along her side. She, in turn, hooked her long legs around Nathaniel, keeping them all close together. She couldn't pull tight like that, but she liked the feeling, liked having both of them.

He leaned forward to kiss her hand where it was splayed along Sebastian's back still, and then began to move again.

Finding their rhythm took a few tries, but soon, Sebastian was holding himself steady, his body trembling, as Cauthrien rolled against him and Nathaniel pressed into him. She covered Sebastian's face with kisses, then let Nathaniel pull her close enough for a kiss of his own. They shared and moved, Cauthrien soon giving herself over to loud and needy cries, Sebastian following suit with the sounds buried against her flesh. Nathaniel was quiet except for a few strangled moans that would escape him whenever Sebastian clenched around him, whenever he nipped at Sebastian's shoulder and the other archer bucked, thrust back. The crumbling stone wall beneath them groaned with their weight, their movement, but they paid it no mind. It was all sliding touch and movement, lips and teeth and cries, whispered names.

Nathaniel managed, once, to worm his hand between her and Sebastian, to find her clit and thumb it a moment before he traced the exposed portion of Sebastian's shaft, before thrusting in at just the right angle to make Sebastian shudder and cry out.

Sebastian pressed kisses to every inch of flesh he could reach, one hand reaching to hold Cauthrien close, nails digging into her skin. And then he would pull away, arch his back, lean just enough that Nathaniel could take his mouth, reopen the cut on his lower lip.

Cauthrien could only work her body against Sebastian's, trail her foot along Nathaniel's side, steal kisses and feel the press of her chest against Sebastian's, Nathaniel's weight adding to the delicious heaviness. She cried out both their names though Nathaniel barely touched her, kissed them both in equal number.

Nathaniel was the first to finish, a few hard, deep thrusts before he stilled that drove Sebastian hard into Cauthrien, that pressed Cauthrien down to nearly lying flat though the wall only extended to beneath her waist. Sebastian held onto her tight to keep her up, whispering her name and Nathaniel's as he felt Nathaniel shudder to a pulsing halt inside of him.

And then Nathaniel withdrew and with a quiet touch, a murmured order, guided Sebastian to lift Cauthrien and settle to the ground with her atop him.

Sebastian groaned as his welted back touched the ground beneath, but then Cauthrien adjusted to straddle him and he watched, entranced, as her muscles flexed, as she lifted herself off of him only to fall back hard and fast onto his lap. She rocked her hips forward and back, made little circles, and Nathaniel sunk to his knees behind her to kiss at her throat, leave marks beside the ones Sebastian had left, thumb her nipple and slide his hands down to play at where she and Sebastian joined. It was only a few moments more after that, her bearing down on him and Nathaniel's clever fingers working at the body he knew only just slightly less as well as his own, before she cried out, falling forward, catching herself just shy of Sebastian's chest as her body clenched and spasmed and she rocked hard against him, then stopped moving altogether.

Somehow, Sebastian lasted until that moment, while Cauthrien panted and trembled above him and Nathaniel's hands slid to Sebastian's thighs, to tease lightly at his entrance, to fall apart.

Afterwards, they laid exhausted in the sparse grass of the ruins, cold stone beneath them, the sun setting on the horizon. Cauthrien entwined herself with both of the men, and Nathaniel's hand spent equal times stroking along her side as along Sebastian's arm. Sebastian pressed his face to Cauthrien's throat and murmured over and over again that he would get up soon. He didn't.

As the sky went dark purple with twilight, Cauthrien turned for just a moment to look at Nathaniel with hazy, sleepy eyes. "Our prince," she said quietly, "can learn, it turns out."

He chuckled, kissing her briefly before he leaned across her to nip at Sebastian's lip. "So it would seem," he murmured. "Self control, indeed."


End file.
